Monica Lewinsky blew the cover off Code Pink. You blew the cover off PETA for me. Not that I bought their BS anyway.

Vick = not awesome.

Although there are poly/philo routes the debate can be taken once the issue of animal rights surfaces, I think the concept of Animal Welfare is key. Kant (or it might have been Descartes) took the common sense approach: humans are above animals because we are capable of making moral choices, but humans who abuse and torture animals dehumanize themselves because they chip away at their own sense of empathy, so it's in a human's interest to treat an animal not as an equal, but with dignity and humanity. I don't agree with certain aspects of the AW ethos, but it's a good place to start the debate.

What gets lost in animal mortality is the hunting/culling/eating of animals v. their torture, which is at the heart of the Vick case. Some claimed that dogfighting was a cultural issue, and that the backlash to Vick was a racial one. For most who were appalled by it, I'd wager it had nothing to do with either. Regardless of race, culture, religion, etc, fact is, most humans eat animal meat, but few get enjoyment from seeing them explicitly tortured.

That is what Vick did. He tortured dogs, not for food or for any other reason than for his own jollies.

If it were up to me, Vick would not have gone to prison. He would faced a fate so terrible that you'd be demanding that I be locked up.

Hunting and trapping have been around forever, much longer than the film industry. If they want to not wear fur or eat meat, fine. But leave those of us that do choose those things alone.